The 234th Guards Air Assault Regiment is a formation of the Russian Airborne Forces. It is part of the

76th Guards Air Assault Division , image = Great emblem of the 76th Guards Air Assault Division.svg , image_size = 200 , caption = Great emblem of the 76th Guards Air Assault Division , dates = 1 September 1939 – present , country = ...

History

The regiment was formed on 7 June 1946 in

Novgorod Veliky Novgorod ( rus, links=no, Великий Новгород, t=Great Newtown, p=vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪj ˈnovɡərət), also known as just Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the ol ...

as the 234th Guards Air-Landing Regiment of the

. In 1947, its garrison was moved to

Pskov Pskov ( rus, Псков, a=pskov-ru.ogg, p=pskof; see also names in other languages) is a city in northwestern Russia and the administrative center of Pskov Oblast, located about east of the Estonian border, on the Velikaya River. Population ...

. In 1949 it was converted into an airborne regiment.

Operations

In 2014, the regiment was involved in the

Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation In February and March 2014, Russia invaded and subsequently annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine. This event took place in the aftermath of the Revolution of Dignity and is part of the wider Russo-Ukrainian War. The events in Kyiv th ...

. It fought in the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The unit has lost several of its senior leadership in the war including Regiment Chief of Staff Lieutenant Colonel Igor Zharov and Regiment Deputy Commander Lieutenant Colonel Aleksey Afonin.

Bucha massacre

The Bucha massacre was the mass murder of Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war by the Russian Armed Forces during the fight for and occupation of the city of Bucha as part of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. specifically killing dozens of innocent civilians on Yablunska Street. Photographic and video evidence of the massacre emerged on 1 April 2022 after Russian forces withdrew from the city. On 22 December 2022, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' published the results of their investigation of the massacre. The eight-month visual investigation by the paper concluded that the perpetrators of the massacre along Yablunska Street were Russian paratroopers from the 234th Air Assault Regiment (part of

) led by Lt. Col. Artyom Gorodilov.

Organization (from 2017)

* Regiment HQ * 1st Airborne Assault Battalion * 2nd Airborne Assault Battalion * Parachute battalion * Self-propelled artillery division * Anti-tank battery * Anti-tank battery of self-propelled anti-tank guns * Anti-aircraft battery * Reconnaissance company * Engineer-sapper company * Communications company * Airborne support company * Logistics company * Repair company * NBC Protection platoon 1,760 personnel, armed with: 108 BMD units (28 BMD-4 units, 5 BMD-3 units, 75 BMD-2 units), 42 BTR-D units, 1 BMD-1R unit, 7 KShM units (6 BMD-1KSh units, 1 R-149BMRD unit), 6 BTR-RD "Robot" units (with 9K113 "Konkurs" ATGM), 9 BTR-ZD "Skrezhet" units (with ZU-23-2 and MANPADS), 10 units 1V119 "Rheostat" units, 24 units 2S9 "Nona-S" units, 6 units 2S25 "Sprut-SD" units.

In literature

The regiment is referenced in

Tom Clancy Thomas Leo Clancy Jr. (April 12, 1947 – October 1, 2013) was an American novelist. He is best known for his technically detailed espionage and military science, military-science storylines set during and after the Cold War. Seventeen of ...

's novel '' Red Storm Rising'', where it takes part in Operation Polar Glory, the

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

invasion of

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

. In the book, the regiment travels hidden in the cargo hold of the merchant ship MV ''Yulius Fuchik''.Clancy, Tom. ''Red Storm Rising'', Chapter 13.

References

Regiments of the Russian Airborne Troops Military units and formations established in 1946 Airborne units and formations of the Soviet Union Military units and formations of Russia in the war in Donbas {{Russia-mil-stub